Duct Tape

While painting a cat with duct tape sounds messy and possibly painful, the result, as rendered by Karen Zimmerman of Lehigh Township, is actually very cute. Titled "I found the kitten," her duct tape painting captures the scene of finding a kitten in the woods near her home. It is rendered in duct tape in several colors. "It is my first duct-tape painting," Zimmerman confesses. The judges hope it won't be her last. Also particularly notable in the artistic design category is Dorothy Williams, 77, o f Allentown, who sent in a note on a very cheerful card, saying only, "Duct tape creatively and profitably fills many leisure hours enjoyably for me."

The case of two Easton men accused of robbing a Bangor-area couple at gunpoint in their home and binding their hands with duct tape is heading to county court. Senior District Judge Sherwood Grigg heard testimony Tuesday from one of the residents and from the police officer who responded April 30 to an emergency call in the 8000 block of Delaware Drive in Washington Township. Defendants Steven Tomino and Ramon Andrew Clark pleaded not guilty to charges of robbery, false imprisonment, terroristic threats, unlawful restraint and conspiracy.

Dennis Harper, principal of Philip F. Lauer Middle School in Wilson, stands taped to a wall in the school's gym on Monday, waiting for the removal of the platform beneath his feet, at left. Below, he remains stuck to the wall after the platform is removed. It was the fulfillment of a promise Harper made to his students last fall. He told them that if they read 2,002 books, he would perform a stunt they would agree on. The students read a total of 2,320 books, doing a report or summary for every one read and receiving 1 foot of duct tape for each of them.

Mother's Day is just a week away and people everywhere are struggling to think of the right gift. For the right price, of course. The holiday presents a dilemma for a cheapster. You want to spend just enough to show mom you love her, and not a penny more. It can be easy to get carried away. The average person is expected to spend $168.94 this Mother's Day, up 11 percent from last year, according to the National Retail Federation in Washington, D.C. We're always a little skeptical of these surveys.

It has been too long since we've seen the creative abilities of our readers, so this summer we'd like to see just how clever you can be with one of the most basic household materials -- duct tape. Many will agree that duct tape is amazing stuff. It can be used to repair things that are falling apart as well as to create new things. So we invite you to enter our Duct Tape Challenge by demonstrating your duct-tape prowess in one of three categories: building/home repair; fanciful style or artistic design.

Yesterday's snowstorm gave jurors in the Kidder Township duct-tape murder trial a day off. Testimony in the trial for William Brian Eichele, 42, of Union City, N.J., is set to resume this morning. Eichele is charged with first- and third-degree murder in the 1990 death of Judith Dashev, 44, of Manhattan. The trial began last Thursday. Prosecutors say Eichele, in late April or early May 1990, killed Dashev while the two were staying in a Lake Harmony vacation home owned by Richard Haag Jr. of New Jersey.

The way things are going, they ought to update the "Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook." The authors just weren't imaginative enough. They got the concept right. "The principle behind this book is a simple one: You just never know." But what you just never knew in 1999 was the easy stuff: how to fend off a shark, escape from killer bees, or deliver a baby in a taxicab. The only time they come close to antiterrorism advice is when the authors said what to do when you're in the line of gunfire.

Lawyers for William Brian Eichele, charged in the 1990 duct-tape murder in Kidder Township, argued successfully yesterday to have the case taken off next week's Carbon County trial list. President Judge John P. Lavelle ruled that a special trial date will be set aside to hear the case, in which Eichele, 42, is charged with wrapping his girlfriend's head in 56 feet of duct tape while the two were staying at a remote vacation home in Lake Harmony. The body of the girlfriend, Judith Dashev of Manhattan, was found May 2, 1990, along a road in Broome County, N.Y. Dashev's head was encased in duct tape, with only her left eye uncovered, and her hands and feet were bound with belts and wire.

They're among us. Raise the subject, and they go into a state of heightened alert, eyes widened, breathless, anxious to evangelize. They understand the power. Henry Chambers of Neptune, N.J., is one of them. His son, Steve, recalls: "Growing up, I remember our house was always sticky." They're duct tape devotees. Duct tape is a $75 million-a-year industry, and growing. Enough duct tape to stretch to the moon and back is sold annually in the U.S. retail market. There's a whole lot of taping going on. Those thick, bulky, silvery rolls have attracted an almost cult-like following.

Lawyers are poised to appeal William Brian Eichele's third-degree murder conviction for the 1990 duct-tape killing of his girlfriend at a Kidder Township vacation home. "It's not over yet," said Carbon County public defender Stephen P. Vlossak, who led the defense team. He was assisted by fellow public defenders Robert T. Yurchak and Gregory L. Mousseau. First Assistant District Attorney William McDonald prosecuted the case. Eichele, 42, of Union City, N.J., was convicted of killing his girlfriend, Judith Dashev, 44, of Manhattan, in late April or early May, 1990, while the couple stayed at a Lake Harmony home owned by Richard Haag Jr. of New Jersey.

READING - The video shows Jennifer Velez-Negron gagged and bound to a chair with duct tape while two Berks County brothers force her to take heroin and torture her, part of a brutal crime captured on one brother's cellphone, authorities said an informant told them. The brothers kidnapped the 26-year-old Reading mother of three believing she set them up to buy $700 worth of cocaine that turned out to be fake, authorities said Tuesday in announcing charges against Maurice and Michael Wilkins.

The family of an 8-year-old California boy filed a claim Tuesday alleging the boy's third-grade teacher duct-taped his mouth shut and that another teacher punished him by placing a chair over him and sitting on it in separate incidents earlier this school year. Another student's hands were duct-taped by Antioch Charter Academy II teacher Michelle Mankewich in November, the claim alleges. All four Antioch Unified School District employees who witnessed or learned of the November incidents failed to perform their mandated reporting duties and notify authorities about them, the claim alleges.

NORTH APOLLO, Pa. (AP) — Police say a Pennsylvania man used his Xbox headphones to call for help after being bound with duct tape and menaced with a gun during a home invasion. Investigators say the 22-year-old suburban Pittsburgh man was playing video games in an upstairs bedroom when he heard his front door open. The man initially thought it was a family member but saw an armed man wearing a ski mask when he looked downstairs. Authorities say the intruder bound Derick Shaffer and led him around the North Apollo home to locate valuables, then fled in Shaffer's car. Shaffer reached a friend over his Xbox Live headset and had him call police.

Recently, there was a documentary on television, recounting the 1970 NASA Apollo 13 moon mission. Although I remembered having seen the news reports of the flight at the time it took place, I had only a vague recollection of how the three endangered astronauts managed to return home safely after a defective oxygen tank in their capsule exploded when they were more than 200,000 miles out in space. The documentary detailed the severe damage suffered by the space capsule, aptly named Odyssey, and how, as a result, the three astronauts were left with an inadequate supply of oxygen.

In October 2010, a bloodied and battered Danielle Fuller told police her boyfriend tied her up with duct tape, beat and burned her and branded his initial on her back during two days of torture. Fuller eventually recanted her story, leading prosecutors Thursday to offer the attacker, Marco K. Bowen, a plea deal that resulted in his release from jail by the end of the day. Knowing Fuller wouldn't testify about the abuse at trial, prosecutors allowed Bowen to plead guilty to one count of felony aggravated assault.

A man state police charged with duct taping a disabled 80-year-old East Allen Township man and stealing thousands in jewelry will plead guilty, according to testimony Tuesday at a hearing in the case. Mark S. Smolow, 58, was a contractor hired to do work at the home and is charged with stealing an estimated $50,000 to $75,000 worth of jewelry during the robbery on April 5. State police tied him to the crime by a wig he allegedly left behind that was bought at a costume shop and investigators recovered a receipt with his name on it, according to court records.

A contractor hired to do work at the home of an East Allen Township couple instead robbed them, duct taping the disabled 80-year-old husband and stealing thousands of dollars worth of jewelry, state police said. Mark S. Smolow, 58, wore a long brown wig and a fake mustache in disguise when he knocked George Hyndshaw to the floor of his Versailles Square home Monday, taping his hands and going straight for the bedroom, police allege. But Smolow was surprised by a neighbor, and in his flight, he left evidence that put police on his trail, according to court records.

Two people were bound with duct tape and robbed in their Bethlehem home on Saturday night, police said. The victims were not injured and could not provide a detailed description of their attackers, said police Detective Van Scott. According to a police report: The robbery happened around 6:40 p.m. at a home in the 600 block of Itaska Street. The victims are Wilson Martin, 23, and Joann Martinez, 20. Police said there was a knock at the door and three men rushed inside the home.